What's New

Resources updated between Monday, April 15, 2013 and Sunday, April 21, 2013

April 21, 2013

Architects of Boston terror

Addressing the nation on Friday evening on the terror in Boston, President Obama asked "why." But clues are hiding in plain sight. At exactly the same time that the Tsarnaev brothers were building their bombs and planning their attack, Islamic front men at the UN were demanding that the organization define terrorism with an exception clause for "legitimate struggle." Speaking for 56 Islamic nations, Egypt demanded that world attention be refocused on "root causes" - which were said to "include...political and economic injustices, and political marginalization." In short, the game plan of Islamic states is to fuel a manufactured sense of grievance that breeds terrorists – whether they live in Boston or Chechnya or anywhere else. It doesn't matter whether Tamerlan or Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ever took the usual American school trip to the United Nations. The poisonous ideology of Islamic countries that is continually broadcast unimpeded from the UN's global stage is ubiquitous.

It will come as no surprise that the UN inquiry on the use of chemical weapons is going nowhere. And now this: "a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity in discussing intelligence matters, said there was no consensus within the U.S. intelligence community about the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria. "But there are growing concerns that chemical weapons may have been used ... in a limited way," the official said." In a limited way? So much for that Obama "game changer." The red line that wasn't.

The UN Security Council discussed the Syrian situation, again. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said starkly "the world has abandoned Syrians." More accurately, in its obsession with demonizing Israel, the world abandoned Syrians decades ago. Until recently, the UN human rights system never adopted any criticism of Syria. Amos also told the Council that "everyone" was looking to them "to guarantee peace & security of the people of the world" - a job description the Council hasn't performed ever. UN officials managed to focus in on the plight of Palestinian refugees, in particular, in Syria. Ironic, since the UN never complained that the Syrian government deliberately kept the Palestinians as refugees and permanently denied them citizenship. The Syrian government also took the floor to complain that the treatment of Syrians in Israeli hospitals was "illegal and immoral." More pathological anti-Semitism at UN Headquarters.

"Anyone who claims to have a shred of genuine humanitarian concern ought to be agitating for UNRWA's abolition and the Palestinians' transfer to UNHCR's auspices. Unfortunately for the Syrians, it seems that many of the world's self-proclaimed humanitarians prefer harming Israel to helping those who need it most."

In a stunning example of double-standards when it comes to everything Israel at the UN, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held a news conference today and was asked about the terror attack on Boston and a new rocket attack into the Israeli town of Eilat. Here's the question and his response.

Question: ...you often remark on terrorist events around the world. Two days in, do you have anything to say about Boston? Also this morning, a rocket attack in Israel.

Secretary-General: I have already issued my statement, immediately after this tragic incident which happened on the occasion of the Boston Marathon. I have strongly condemned such an attack against civilian populations. Many people were wounded, with three people killed. I have conveyed my deepest condolences and sympathies for all those wounded and killed. Now what is important is that I've been closely following all of the investigations by the authorities of the United States. I sincerely hope that they will be able to find the perpetrators and bring anybody, whoever may be [guilty], to justice. The United Nations is also strengthening safety and security measures throughout all the United Nations compounds. We are also trying to strengthen the security measures all throughout the missions around the world. I sincerely hope that the international community should be committed and united in fighting against any such terrorist attacks.

Question: And the rockets in Israel?

Secretary-General: Let me just have one question by one person. Thank you very much.

The UN Security Council held a meeting on sexual violence in conflict and as usual, Arab governments preferred to divert attention from their horrific records on sexual violence against women by condemning Israel. Here's Qatar: "Qatar's laws enabled women to play major roles in the country's political and economic fields...women in Palestine suffered from unjust measures at the hands of the Israeli occupation." There is no political equality for women In Qatar, and as the State Department human rights report notes, there is not even any law criminalizing domestic violence. Egypt gave a lecture about how concerned they are about sexual violence, though 80-90% of Egyptian women are estimated to have been subject to female genital mutilation. The Sudanese delegation - evidencing no shame - gave a detailed statement about their terrific record on the treatment of women - despite the vast numbers of Sudanese women victimized continually over many decades.

Iranian government-controlled media reports that Iran wants another UN conference to talk about Syria - sadly giving new meaning to the phrase "talking people to death." Iranian news reports to its citizens that only "hundreds of people" have been killed in Syria - not 70,000 plus - and the perpetrators are the U.S. and Israel.

The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is having another event, this time in Venezuela. The anti-Jewish "special meeting" is to be held "at the historic Yellow House" in Caracas. Was the ugly symbolism just missed? And with no shortage of UN $$ "the Division for Palestinian Rights will provide updates on its website, on Facebook and on Twitter."

The UN committee created in 1975 on the same day as the Zionism-is-racism resolution - and intended to implement its message - is celebrating the invented "Palestinian Prisoners Day" with manufactured grievances of all kinds. Apparently, no one on the committee seems to be able to figure out why any Palestinian is in jail.

On Friday, the Ad-committee charged with drafting a comprehensive convention against terrorism more than a decade ago, ended once again with no agreement. The coordinator made the problem clear: states from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) refused to accept a definition of terrorism that didn't permit horrors perpetrated in the name of combating "colonial or alien domination and foreign occupation." Here's the coordinator's report of the week-long meeting: "Several delegations emphasized the need to distinguish terrorism from the legitimate struggle of peoples under colonial or alien domination and foreign occupation in the exercise of their right to self-determination." Instead of agreeing to condemn a phenomenon all could agree was unacceptable, OIC countries "stressed the need to address the root causes of terrorism and the conditions conducive to terrorism." Egypt led a move to have an international UN conference that would adopt the "exclusionary elements" and address the so-called "root causes of terrorism." In other words, for Morsi's Egypt, the terrorist is the real victim.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was assassinated on February 14, 2005. Then the UN stepped in to investigate and respond. World still waiting and top suspect Hezbollah's second-in-command Mustafa Badr al-Din, still at large.

The U.S. Mission in Geneva has issued a press release on Syria. "The Obama administration," it says, is keen on empowering members of the government "without blood on their hands." It says the Syrian civil war can be solved by negotiations between lily-white opposition groups and lily-white government souls. That's what comes from living in UN Geneva la-la land too long.

Horrific human rights abuses in China. And rights victims re-victimized by state for daring to come forward. And not one resolution has ever criticized China in the history of the UN human rights system.

Commemorating the Rwandan genocide, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announces that the UN is "monitor[ing] the world for signs of the crime's precursors." Considering the President of Iran openly calls for genocide against the Jewish state, and is never stopped from taking a UN microphone to spew hatred at any UN gathering he likes, the boast is hard to defend. Ban Ki-moon says UN "human rights mechanisms play a critical early warning role." But there is no shortage of warnings from Ahmadinejad. The Secretary-General just isn't listening.

South African UNAMID peacekeepers unload medicine in North Darfur (Reuters)

Anonymous UN official says of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: "he has failed to provide the dynamic leadership and reforms the institution desperately needs...He spends a lot of time in Davos, the Arctic Circle or Monaco, and meanwhile there are critical issues - such as the future of peacekeeping - facing a real crisis."

The "Syrian delegation to the United Nations requested that the Security Council...pursue sanctions against the Nusra Front as a terrorist group." The U.S. already considers the group to be a terrorist organization. "French diplomats said Friday that discussions were under way in a Security Council committee to explore that possibility." Meanwhile, in another UN committee meeting just down the hall, Syrian delegates were demanding a definition of terrorism that excludes its preferred targets. Of course, the Security Council could impose a "clean hands" rule, but that would probably worry those busy French diplomats.